Illinois Becomes Fifth State to Import Prescription
Drugs from Abroad

August 17, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Illinois Gov.
Rod Blagojevich, sidestepping federal regulator's objections,
has followed through on previous assertions that he would
allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada, the
United Kingdom and Ireland.

Blagojevich had previously asked for a federal waiver
to launch a pilot program to import prescription drugs
fromCanada
. After what he describes as ‘stonewalling’ by the US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), Blagojevich helped organize
a class action suit on behalf of senior citizens against
the agency (see
Illinois Could Go to Court Over Canadian Drug Issue
). With no response from the FDA, Blagojevich has decided
to go ahead with his drug importation plan.

The program – which will be launched within a month –
will allowIllinois
residents to connect via Internet or a toll-free telephone
number to price lists compiled from the three countries for
100 common drugs used for long-term or chronic conditions.
To begin with, the program will be offered to almost
one-quarter of
Illinois
‘ 12.6 million residents, with 500,000 seniors being
included. After this, the state plans to waive co-payments
for state employees who opt to buy imported prescription
drugs. Blagojevich believes that savings could be up to 50%
when compared to domestic drug prices (see
Illinois Gov Pushes For Canadian Drug Purchases
).

Illinois
will be the fifth state to allow residents access to
imported drugs — the others are
Minnesota
,
Wisconsin
,
New Hampshire
, and
North Dakota
— but it will be the first state to include countries in
Europe
.

The FDA has previously claimed that the safety of
imported drugs cannot be verified, thus calling into
question their acceptability forUS
domestic use. Blagojevich, however, insists that drugs
acquired through Canadian, Irish, and Great British
clearinghouses and pharmacy benefits managers would be
perfectly safe. He had previously sent a team to look at
pharmacy and drug warehouse in
Europe
, eventually settling on allowing imports from
English-speaking countries.